Background: The transition to motherhood involves significant changes in support networks and women's perceptions of their social and family environment. Sentiment analysis provides an objective methodology to examine these changes through the language used by participants.
Objective: To analyze variations in expressed sentiments about different support categories between pregnancy and postpartum periods using sentiment analysis techniques applied to longitudinal interviews.
Methods: A longitudinal qualitative study with sentiment analysis was conducted on interviews with women at two time points: pregnancy and postpartum. Lexical and contextual analysis was applied considering negators, intensifiers, and language moderators. Thirteen support categories were analyzed: family support, partner support, emotional support, professional support, community support, informational support, practical support, self-care, psycho-emotional support, and inverse categories (conflict, support conflict, lack of support). Sentiment values were calculated on a scale from -2 (very negative) to +2 (very positive).
Results: Differentiated patterns were observed between periods. Family support showed a general decrease in frequency of mentions from pregnancy to postpartum. Professional support increased its relevance in the postpartum period. Emotional support showed significant individual variations. Inverse categories (conflict and lack of support) evidenced changes in perception of relational tensions. The relationship with mother showed predominantly positive sentiments, with some cases of reevaluation of maternal care memories after pregnancy.
Conclusions: Sentiment analysis reveals complex transformations in support perceptions during maternal transition. A transition from dependence on informal support (family/partner) toward greater appreciation of professional and institutional support after childbirth was evidenced. Results suggest the need for differentiated interventions according to the stage of maternal transition.